Two short films deal with finding balance between fantasy and reality

Midweek update: Director Ricky Pope's "Overdue" and "Semi-Social" can be seen online.

The two short films I made with director Ricky Pope for the 48-hour film contest are now available to be viewed on YouTube.

Both of these involve being caught up in a fantasy world of sorts — for Tyler in “Semi-Social,” he’s more interested in his life online than the things right in front of him. In “Overdue,” Mrs. Bloom is facing real life with her pregnancy — but still wishes for a few moments of escape in her beloved books. I think both characters discover that there’s a time and place for fantasy, but that real life must be sought after and grasped as well.

I wrote about these films recently on my matthewLprice.com website, but wanted to share them here also for my Substack audience.

Both of these films were made for the Oklahoma City 48-Hour Film contest. If you’d like to be involved in this contest, this year’s registration is open now.

In 2017, I joined with director Ricky Pope for his debut 48-hour entry, “Semi-Social.” Ricky had worked on “The Bulleteers” along with director Kyle Roberts. Writers Jon Skelly, Chris Forbes and Songo Adoki joined me in the writers’ room for this one. Skelly and I previously worked together on “Heroes of the Realm” with Kyle.

“Semi-Social” was nominated for Best Sound Design, Best Editing and Best Cinematography in the OKC contest.

Our logline was as follows: A tech-addicted teen attempting to attract the girl of his dreams gets help from an unexpected source.  We were inspired by films like “Back to the Future” and “Pretty in Pink,” as you can kind of see on our poster, shot by Nick Aufiero.

You can watch “Semi-Social” online here:

In 2018, I again joined Ricky’s team for “Overdue,” which we shot in my kids’ elementary school. Having the shoot nearby allowed us to use Speeding Bullet Comics for our writers’ room, which was convenient for me, and I think an enjoyable headquarters for everyone involved.

Logistics play an important role in making a 48-hour film: How many shooting locations are you going to use, and how close are they to one another? Where are your writers going to sleep, given that they will likely write through the night? Do you have a comfortable place for them to work? How quickly can you decide when and where the first call time will be? Can you get your crew working on costuming and characters early? There’s a lot to it and it moves pretty fast.

My daughter Rachel also worked on this one with me, as a writers’ room assistant and an actor, which made it particularly fun. Overall, the cast here was great. Many of them had returned from “Semi-Social,” and this was a terrific shoot. Skelly, Adoki, Forbes and I again served as the writers.

The “Overdue” synopsis:

A pregnant librarian, on a journey to the perfect baby name, goes into labor and is joined on her trip by a cast of characters from her favorite books. Time is running out as her husband hits the road to get her to the hospital.

“Overdue” won “Audience Choice” in the Oklahoma City 48 Hour Film Project 2018, and went on to play multiple festivals, including Sunny Side Up, Bare Bones International, Clean Shorts and Red Dirt.

You can watch “Overdue” below:

I really enjoyed working with Ricky and crew, and hope we someday cross paths again! In the meantime, please enjoy these two entries on my “writer/producer” resume and give them a watch on YouTube!

Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.